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Fortress Monastery
The Templars' Fortress Monastery is one of the three primary objectives in the main quest, the other two being the High Sabbat and the Citadel. This article contains spoilers and exploits. Location The party learns of its location during the High Sabbat. The fortress has the same location in every game: Lugum, NW of Flensburg. Upon victory here, the party learns the location of the Citadel, the final objective in the main quest. ;Site Rotation The party needs to conquer the Templar fortress once, but it should be noted that this part of the main quest is very-much repeatable. When the Lugum fortress is vanquished, a new fortress instantly appears at a new site elsewhere in the empire. The Lugum site is deactivated forever, and new fortresses will cycle through the following locations, in this order: #Teufelstein, S of Görlitz #Tafelfichte, NE of Graz #Hochkönig, S of Salzburg #SeeWinkel, S of Pressburg #Vogelsberg, W of Fulda The Fortress shares this site rotation with Baphomet's Citadel, which starts out at location #3, Hochkönig. In theory the party can keep the main quest going indefinitely by conquering these sites alternately (or almost conquering, in the case of the citadel). If one of the structures attempts to move onto the current site of the other, it vanishes. Layout Hi-res version here. Levels ;Entrance :A Bone found in the guard posts set into the side of the building will be useful later. There are also 45q potions. The graveyard will release Hellhounds if the wrong name is recited from the gravestones; the correct name, Reinhard, should stand out to veterans of the High Sabbat. It opens the way in. Digging up the graves lowers Virt. ;Courtyard :A great fountain in the center heals Str at the cost of Virt. There are many living quarters here for Templars and their familiars- Bears, in fact. There are hidden doors and trapped chests in the northern portion of this area, and there are scattered explosive traps (some of which are immune to detection by a party member's Per). The northwest chest has weapons and the northeast chest has 6 full suits of 30q Plate Armor. ;Laboratory :There is an interactive desk on this level. A party with sufficient R&W can gain 3 random alchemical formulas here. Regardless of which party member is mentioned in the cutscene's text, the member with the highest R&W is the one who gains the formulas. Setting the apparatus on fire instead draws a swarm of Templar guards to the area. ;Catacombs - Jail Cell :Everyone falls into a cell on this level, if they fail to overcome the false floor trap in the Hall of Horns. If the party is defeated in combat in the Fortress they end up here as well, their weapons and armor stripped. If the party submits to the Templars that arrive at the cell after a while, they also lose their cash and items. An unseen infiltrator among the Templars springs the party loose after this disaster. A variety of superior methods of escape are available, using any of the following: SpkL, Artf, Eater Water, Thunderbolt, Noxious Aroma, Eyeburn, Black Cloud, Sunburst; or Saints Dismas, Gregory T, Reinold, Felix, Christina, Paul the Simple, John Nepl, Peter; or just fighting the guards. ;Catacombs :Besides the jail cell there is a possible interaction with a skeletal warrior. If the party returns its missing Bone from the entrance level, it will speak about the demon lord guarding the seal. There is also a trapped chest with infernal Brimstone and other 35q items. ;Monk's Cell :A mad monk is held prisoner behind locked doors. He wants only the chance to confess himself before death; a character with sufficient Relg has a chance of performing the rite correctly, and in return, the monk will speak about the Hall of Horns. ;Guard Post :The Templar Guards in this area do not immediately recognize the party as foes, and can be tricked, even so far as to abandon the post temporarily (Chr, SpkC, and aid from Agnes, Alexis, or Cecilia will help the odds here). Alternatively they can just be wiped out. The guards and the paperwork in the room can reveal various pieces of information. ;Keep :Templar Guards here are accustomed to admitting visitors to the fortress but will demand a password (as obtained from the guard post: beelzebub forever); fighting also works. Calling a saint in this interaction will merely inform the party of where they need to go to get the password. On the path to the Lower Keep area, there are indetectable explosive traps, and de-equipping armor is advisable. ;Lower Keep :There is a chest containing exceptional lockpicks, rope, and an instrument. The Templar Preceptor is behind a series of locked and hidden doors. Acquiring his high-quality armor may be delayed until the next fight, because cutscenes interfere with the loot system. ;Oubliette :There is a heavily-trapped corridor extending south, and sending an armorless "loss leader" through is probably the best way to deal with it. Searching the burned books at the end of the corridor requires exposure to filth (temporary damage to the party's Chr scores that may take several weeks to recover) or prayers to Gregory T, Thomas Aq, Boniface, or Raphael. The party's reward is a wondrous Latin textbook: +15 SpkL is awarded to the party member with the highest level of training in this skill. ;Hall of Horns :Locked doors on this level can block an insufficiently-skilled party from progressing further in the quest. The wall-mounted animal horns on the level prompt a cutscene: the horns to fiddle with are those of the stag, as learned from the mad monk earlier; otherwise, in the next room a massive floor trap will swallow the party and send them to a catacombs cell (described earlier). Defeating this trap otherwise may require Artf, the average Agl of the party, Stone-tar, Thunderbolt, Eater Water, Arabian Fire, or the levitating saints Lutgardis, Milburga, or Christina. ;Ritual Chambers :The northeast chamber has a cutscene where the party can overhear the time and place of the next witch sabbat. With sufficient Stlh, the party gets an opportunity to purify the chamber and gain Virt; failing that, a battle ensues. ;Tower :There are three locked chests in this area containing holy relics. The "Seal of the Apocalypse" sought by the party is on this level, guarded by three groups of elite warriors and a demon. The demon's otherwise nigh-invincible defenses are vulnerable to the Fleadust potion, as per a tip-off by the undead creature in the catacombs. Additional Notes *The fame reward for victory is 42 / 64 / 96 as per the difficulty setting. *The party can find and clear the Templar fortress in its entirety without first attending the witches' High Sabbat. The time and place of the next sabbat can be overheard in the halls (see "Ritual Chambers" description above and on map). *Hellhounds can be released in the entrance's graveyard repeatedly, possibly useful for weapons training. No time passes. *All things considered, there is not much standing between a weak party and the courtyard chest containing the suits of high-quality plate armor: a couple of bears, a low-level hidden door, and the wards on the chest. *The alchemy lab table can be approached repeatedly, giving the party member with the highest R&W every alchemical formula in a matter of minutes. What's more, this particular location in the Fortress Monastery can be reached without any combat or checks on survival skills. This serious and rather unrealistic exploit is not recommended for keeping the game interesting. *If one is willing to spend the time required to backtrack out of the fortress, certain other features of the place make it worthwhile to make repeated runs: the wealth of armor salvage from the Templars, especially the Preceptor, the SpkL training burst in the bottom level, cleansing the altar in the upper levels for Virt, scoring relics, etc. Category:Locations Category:Quest-Related